Carlos Alberto Díaz Sánchez (born February 6, 1970, in
San Juan,
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...
) is a
Puerto Rican politician, and former member of the
Puerto Rico House of Representatives
The House of Representatives of Puerto Rico ( es, Cámara de Representantes de Puerto Rico) is the lower house of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, the bicameral territorial legislature of Puerto Rico. The House, together with the Sen ...
and
Senate.
Early years and studies
Carlos Díaz was born on February 6, 1970, in
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the juri ...
. He was raised by single mother Lydia Sánchez Bermúdez, along with her sister Ann Lee, at Las Gladiolas Housing Project in
Hato Rey
Hato Rey is a former barrio located in the northwest part of the dissolved municipality of Río Piedras. It now stretches over three barrios, of the municipality of San Juan, Puerto Rico:
Urban landscape
Its name means "king's cattle farm" (' ...
. He studied at
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-d ...
in
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
. Being a practicing
Mormon
Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into severa ...
, Díaz did missionary work in
Guatemala in 1992.
Political career
Representative: 1996-2000
Upon his return to Puerto Rico, Díaz was elected to fill a vacancy at the
Puerto Rico House of Representatives
The House of Representatives of Puerto Rico ( es, Cámara de Representantes de Puerto Rico) is the lower house of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, the bicameral territorial legislature of Puerto Rico. The House, together with the Sen ...
for District 5. At the
1996 general elections, he was officially elected as a Representative for the same district. At the age of 25 he was the youngest legislator in Puerto Rico's history. He ran again at the
2000 general election, but lost to the candidate of the opposing party.
Senator: 2004-2008
Díaz returned to the political stage in 2004, when he presented his candidacy to the
Senate of Puerto Rico
The Senate of Puerto Rico ( es, Senado de Puerto Rico) is the upper house of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, the territorial legislature of Puerto Rico. The Senate, together with the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico, control t ...
, representing the
District of San Juan. At the
2004 general elections, he was elected as one of San Juan's two district senators, along with running-mate
Roberto Arango
Roberto Arango-Vinent is an American politician who served in the Senate of Puerto Rico from January 2005 until August 2011 representing the San Juan district for the New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico (NPP), which is a conservative group der ...
. As a
New Progressive Party (NPP) senator, Díaz presided two standing committees and one select committee of the Senate.
Díaz was one of six members of the PNP party who chose not to support the recently defeated governor candidate,
Pedro Rosselló
Pedro Juan Rosselló González, (; born April 5, 1944) is a Puerto Rican physician and politician who served as the governor of Puerto Rico from 1993 to 2001. He was President of the New Progressive Party from 1991 to 1999 and 2003 to 2008, a ...
, in his attempt to overtake the Senate's presidency from elected Senator
Kenneth McClintock. For their loyalty, they became known as "Los Auténticos", which caused them to be expelled from the party. In 2008, the court agreed that Díaz and the other senators had been expelled from the party illegally and they were to be reinstated to their full capacity, as District Presidents, Delegates to the party or any other function they had inside the party. The decision also established that they could run for reelection for their party.
However, before his expulsion, Díaz became the center of a political scandal, when surveillance cameras of the
Capitol of Puerto Rico
The Capitol of Puerto Rico ( es, Capitolio de Puerto Rico) is located on the Islet of San Juan just outside the walls of Old San Juan. The building is home to the bicameral Legislative Assembly, composed of the House of Representatives and ...
were misused to record him. In the recording, Díaz was accompanying two ladies to the parking lot and, as they entered their car, Díaz kissed one of them on her hands and face. The video (which came to be known as Video 59) was later used to
blackmail Díaz into supporting Rosselló in his power struggle with McClintock. It was later revealed that the two ladies were employees of the Senate that were asking Díaz for economic help for a
chemotherapy
Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs ( chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemothe ...
treatment. A commission was created within the Senate to investigate the incident, but no actions were taken against the ones who ordered the recording of it.
In March 2008, Díaz was defeated for re-election as San Juan district Senator in the
primaries of his party.
Recent years
In 2009, Díaz was one of the possible candidates to fill the vacancy left by former senator
Jorge de Castro Font
Jorge Adolfo de Castro-Font (born September 10, 1963) is a former Puerto Rican senator and former member of the House of Representatives. Originally, he was a member of the Popular Democratic Party (PPD) but became an independent representativ ...
, who resigned to his chair after being convicted by federal authorities. Díaz, however, declined the possibility. He subsequently retired from the political arena and is currently working in the private sector as an adviser on medical and hospital services.
In 2010, Secretary of Justice, Guillermo Somoza recommended an investigation on Díaz, claiming there was evidence on
bribery and corruption. On December of that year, the Special Independent Prosecutor assigned to the case decided there was insufficient evidence of the allegations and did not press charges against the former senator.
In March 2011, Díaz said in an interview that he would consider returning to politics. He also said that he could do it under the
Popular Democratic Party stating that it was irrelevant because "the people are tired of parties... they want unity". Later that year, it was announced that Díaz was serving as adviser to thoracic surgeon Dr.
Iván González Cancel
Iván F. González Cancel is a cardiovascular and heart transplant surgeon credited for having performed the first heart transplant surgery in Puerto Rico.
Early life
He was born in 1960 in municipality of Utuado, Puerto Rico. He lived in Utua ...
, who was aspiring to run against Governor Foretuño in NPP primaries for
Governor of Puerto Rico, before his candidacy was decertified by the NPP Directorate,
Exsenador Carlos Díaz "asesora" en su campaña a Iván González Cancel
on Telemundo Puerto Rico (September 1, 2011) a decision that has been appealed in federal district court. Díaz is now running in the NPP March 16, 2012, primaries for state representative in San Juan's House district 4.
Personal life
References
External links
Carlos Díaz
on SenadoPR (through Wayback Machine
The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...
)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Diaz, Carlos
1970 births
Living people
New Progressive Party members of the Senate of Puerto Rico
Brigham Young University alumni
American Mormon missionaries in Guatemala
Puerto Rican Latter Day Saints
Puerto Rican Mormon missionaries
21st-century Puerto Rican politicians